40 



AUSTRALASIA. 



union of the Australasian colonies, but the activ- 

 ity of Germany and France in the Pacific in 1883 

 first impressed the idea on the Australians and 

 led to the establishment of the Federal Council as 

 an experimental step. This was simply an ad- 

 visory body, with neither legislative nor executive 

 authority. New South Wales refused to join in 

 its deliberations from the first, and South Aus- 

 tralia subsequently withdrew. The Russian scare 

 in lSi)0 gave a fresh impetus to the movement for 

 federation. A conference was held in Melbourne, 

 followed by a convention in Sydney in 1891, at 

 which the first commonwealth bill was drafted. 

 This was submitted to the colonial Parliaments, 

 hut the popular demand for federation was not 

 strong enough to secure its adoption. The Fed- 

 eral League was then founded to enlighten the 

 Australian people regarding the benefits of federa- 

 tion, and so successful was this educational move- 

 ment that in 1895 the Premiers in a conference 

 agn-ed to bring forward enabling bills in their 

 several Parliaments for providing a convention of 

 delegates which should be instructed and empow- 

 ered to frame a constitution. This constitution 

 was to be submitted to the separate Parliaments 

 sitting in grand committee; the amendments 

 made by the several Parliaments were then to be 

 referred" back to the convention, and after they 

 had been considered a final draft was to be made 

 and submitted to the people of the several colonies 

 to be voted on in a general referendum. The con- 

 vention was held at Adelaide in March, 1897. 

 Queensland was not represented, its Government 

 having refused to pass an enabling bill. The con- 

 stitution drafted at that meeting was based on the 

 one drawn up in 1891, of which Sir Samuel Grif- 

 fith and Edmund Barton were the principal au- 

 thors. The convention met again at Sydney be- 

 fore the close of 1897 to consider and digest the 

 amendments made b.y the several Parliaments, 

 adjourned to Melbourne in 1898, and the final 

 draft was submitted to popular vote in the sev- 

 eral colonies. Queensland, as well as Western 

 Australia, abstained from voting on the bill. 

 There were 219,000 votes cast for, and 108,000 

 against, the bill, but in New South Wales it failed 

 to secure the 80,000 votes that had been fixed as 

 the minimum majority required to secure its 

 adoption. The Government of New South Wales 

 then proposed amendments, which were substan- 

 tially adopted. Another referendum was proposed 

 and agreed to. The people of Queensland voted 

 this time, and the results were 377,600 votes for 

 the bill and 141,500 against. Western Australia 

 did not take part in this decision, but pressed for 

 further amendments, which the other colonies de- 

 clined to consider, the Premiers deciding that it 

 was too late to change the constitution to which 

 the people of five colonies had given the seal of 

 their approval. In this form it was then for- 

 warded for the sanction of the Imperial Parlia- 

 ment, accompanied by a bill authorizing the fed- 

 eration of the colonies under this palladium. 



The draft bill for the federation of the Austra- 

 lian colonies embodying the Federal Constitution 

 was presented to the British Government for the 

 sanction of the Imperial Parliament before the 

 beginning of the session of 1900. It was the result 

 <>f many years' discussion, and had been ratified 

 by a referendum in the colonies that were ready 

 to enter the federation as original states, viz., 

 New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, Queens- 

 land, and South Australia. Western Australia 

 desired a postponement until its people could also 

 decide by a referendum whether they would ac- 

 cent the Federal Constitution, but the other col- 

 onies were not willing to grant further delay. 



New Zealand still held aloof. The conference of 

 Premiers, held at Sydney in January, 1900, voted 

 unanimously that the bill should be passed with- 

 out alteration. The principal clauses of the Con- 

 stitution which the statesmen and jurists of Aus- 

 tralia had drawn up and the people had ratified by 

 a large majority are given below. 



The commonwealth bill as finally adopted pro- 

 vided that the legislative power shall be vested 

 in a Federal Parliament, consisting of the Queen, 

 a Senate, and a House of Representatives, the 

 Queen's representative being a Governor General, 

 appointed by the Crown and receiving a salary 

 from the commonwealth of 10,000 until the 

 Parliament should otherwise decide its amount. 

 Parliament shall sit once at least in the course of 

 a year. The Senate is to be composed of Senators 

 for each state, directly chosen by the people of 

 that state, and sitting for a term of six years. 

 The method of election was left to be defined 

 later. The House of Representatives is to contain 

 twice the number of the Senate, and its members 

 are to be elected by the people -of the whole com- 

 monwealth, the number of members provided by 

 each state to be in proportion to the number of 

 the people in that state; but in each original 

 state there shall be at least five members apart 

 from this consideration. The bill provided that 

 the Queen should proclaim the union of the col- 

 onies adopting the Constitution, within a year of 

 the passing of the act by the British Parliament, 

 in a federal commonwealth under the name of the 

 Commonwealth of Australia. The commonwealth 

 act and all laws made by the Parliament of the 

 commonwealth under the Constitution shall be 

 binding on the courts, judges, and people of every 

 state and of every part of the commonwealth, not- 

 withstanding anything in the laws of any state: 

 and the laws of the commonwealth shall be in 

 force on all British ships, except ships of war, 

 whose first port of clearance and port of destina- 

 tion are in the commonwealth. States of the 

 commonwealth are such of the colonies of New 

 South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, Tas- 

 mania, Victoria, Western Australia, and South 

 Australia, including the northern territory of 

 South Australia, as for the time being are parts 

 of the commonwealth, and such colonies and terri- 

 tories as may be admitted into the commonwealth 

 or established by the commonwealth as states. 

 The Parliament shall, subject to the Constitution, 

 have power to make laws for the peace, order, and 

 good government of the commonwealth with re- 

 spect to trade and commerce with other countries 

 and among the states; taxation, so as not to 

 discriminate between states or parts of states; 

 bounties on the production or export of goods, so 

 that such bounties shall be uniform throughout 

 the commonwealth ; borrowing money on the pub- 

 lic credit of the commonwealth; postal, tele- 

 graphic, telephonic, and other like services; the 

 naval and military defense of the commonwealth 

 and of the several states, and the control of the 

 forces to execute and maintain the laws of the 

 commonwealth ; lighthouses, light-ships, beacons, 

 and buoys; astronomical and meteorological ob- 

 servations; quarantine; fisheries in Australian 

 waters beyond territorial limits; census and sta- 

 tistics; currency, coinage, and legal tender; bank- 

 ing other than state banking, also state banking 

 beyond the limits of the state concerned, the in- 

 corporation of banks, and the issue of paper 

 money; insurance other than state insurance, al-o 

 state insurance extending beyond the limits of the 

 state concerned; weights and measures; bills of 

 exchange and promissory notes; bankruptcy and 

 insolvency; copyrights, patents of inventions and 



